ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how Daoism fits into the theory of the development and character of onmyd proposed by Yamashita. However, the chapter focuses on the initial stage of onmyd, before it developed into a thaumaturgic religion. Yamashita purports that the term onmyd only came to be known during the Heian period at the point when it became a thaumaturgic religion; according to such a view, speaking of an initial stage onmyd may seem problematic. In China different disciplines of study are traditionally classified into three general categories. These categories, listed in descending order in terms of their perceived value, are the Way, skill and technique. The chapter discusses Book of Changes divination, cosmograph divination, fngshu geomancy, and calendrical divination, all of which were the representative divination methods of onmyd. It also attempts to clarify the general nature of the relationship between onmyd in its early stages and Daoism.
